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101-522: Several details regarding the artistic biography of the Andokides Painter have been suggested through connoisseurial studies of his work. As mentioned, he is widely thought to be the creator of the red-figure painting technique. It is likely, however, that he also worked in black-figure painting, and his style suggests a link, possibly in the role of student, to the great black-figure painter Exekias . John Boardman sees connections to Ionian art in

202-519: A backgammon or checkers variant, was played with a die . According to the words written next to the two players, Achilles proclaims he has thrown a four, while Ajax has a three. Although the two of them are pictured playing, they are clearly depicted as being on duty, accompanied by their body armor and holding their spears, suggesting that they might head back into battle at any moment. There are small details that Exekias adds to this piece that separate it from other depictions of this narrative. Achilles

303-457: A kylix now in Munich (Antikensammlung 2044). The kylix falls into the " eye-cup " category and is decorated on the exterior with two pairs of eyes, which may be an original Exekian motif. The interior shows a depiction of the god Dionysos against a background of coral-red slip, which coats the entire picture space. Here, Exekias uses the tondo as a working surface for the main scenario: Dionysus

404-580: A Homeric duel or simple combat; a failed boat can represent the shipwreck of Odysseus or any hapless sailor. Lastly, are the local schools that appear in Greece. Production of vases was largely the prerogative of Athens – it is well attested that as in the proto-geometrical period, in Corinth, Boeotia, Argos , Crete and Cyclades , the painters and potters were satisfied to follow the Attic style . From about

505-536: A century later than was in fact the case. This error was corrected when the Archaeological Society of Athens undertook the excavation of the Acropolis in 1885 and discovered the so-called " Persian debris " of red figure pots destroyed by Persian invaders in 480 BC. With a more soundly established chronology it was possible for Adolf Furtwängler and his students in the 1880s and 90s to date

606-537: A chronology of the vases, and the relationship of the scenes to one another. Her conclusions demonstrated that the Lysippides Painter and the Andokides Painter were distinct, that shared details among the paintings were the result of collaboration, and that the black-figure images were a self-contained corpus that was not produced by the painter of the red-figure scenes. Elizabeth Simpson in her article "The Andokides Painter and Greek Carpentry" further settled

707-634: A common range of subjects: the birth of Athena , Theseus fighting the Minotaur , Herakles fighting the Nemean Lion , and Herakles and the three-bodied Geryon , are among the themes most often pictured on vases by this group. Exekias does not seem to have specialized in a specific vessel type. Among the vases made or decorated by him are neck amphorae, Type A and B amphorae, calyx kraters, column kraters, Type A cups, dinoi, hydriai, and at least one Panathenaic amphora . Probably his most unusual work

808-464: A large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece , and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum ), it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society . The shards of pots discarded or buried in the 1st millennium BC are still the best guide available to understand the customary life and mind of

909-470: A number of different artists' hands. Geometrical features remained in the style called proto-Corinthian that embraced these Orientalizing experiments, yet which coexisted with a conservative sub-geometric style. The ceramics of Corinth were exported all over Greece, and their technique arrived in Athens, prompting the development of a less markedly Eastern idiom there. During this time described as Proto-Attic,

1010-427: A red slip in imitation of superior Athenian ware. At Athens researchers have found the earliest known examples of vase painters signing their work, the first being a dinos by Sophilos (illus. below, BM, c.  580 ), this perhaps indicative of their increasing ambition as artists in producing the monumental work demanded as grave markers, as for example with Kleitias 's François Vase . Many scholars consider

1111-434: A repertory of non-mythological animals arranged in friezes across the belly of the vase. In these friezes, painters also began to apply lotuses or palmettes. Depictions of humans were relatively rare. Those that have been found are figures in silhouette with some incised detail, perhaps the origin of the incised silhouette figures of the black-figure period. There is sufficient detail on these figures to allow scholars to discern

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1212-401: A self-conscious movement, though they left behind no testament other than their own work. John Boardman said of the research on their work that "the reconstruction of their careers, common purpose, even rivalries, can be taken as an archaeological triumph". The next generation of late Archaic vase painters ( c.  500 to 480 BC) brought an increasing naturalism to the style as seen in

1313-567: A storage or other function, such as the krater with its usual use in diluting wine. Earlier Greek styles of pottery, called "Aegean" rather than "Ancient Greek", include Minoan pottery , very sophisticated by its final stages, Cycladic pottery , Minyan ware and then Mycenaean pottery in the Bronze Age , followed by the cultural disruption of the Greek Dark Age . As the culture recovered Sub-Mycenaean pottery finally blended into

1414-507: Is a near statuesque dignity which brings vase painting for the first time close to claiming a place as a major art." He was an innovative painter and potter, who experimented with new shapes and devised unusual painting techniques, such as the use of a coral-red slip, to enhance colour. Fourteen signed works by Exekias have survived, while many more have been attributed to him based on the stylistic connoisseurship method developed by John Beazley . His signed pieces provide insight not only into

1515-565: Is also, with Ancient Greek literature , the best guide we have to the customary life and mind of the ancient Greeks. Greek pottery goes back to the Stone Age , such as those found in Sesklo and Dimini . More elaborate painting on Greek pottery goes back to the Minoan pottery and Mycenaean pottery of the Bronze Age , some later examples of which show the ambitious figurative painting that

1616-450: Is deftly executed, as are details of hands, feet, and armor, and hair is precisely drawn with a series of lines that run exactly parallel and end in curls; the facial expressions of the two heroes are likewise perfectly accomplished, so as to indicate, within the conventions of black figure, the intense concentration as shown by the gaze of both players. Pottery of Ancient Greece Pottery , due to its relative durability, comprises

1717-596: Is mostly known as the "iron reduction technique" was decoded with the contribution of scholars, ceramists and scientists from the mid 18th century onwards to the end of the 20th century, i.e. Comte de Caylus (1752), Durand-Greville (1891), Binns and Fraser (1925), Schumann (1942), Winter (1959), Bimson (1956), Noble (1960, 1965), Hofmann (1962), Oberlies (1968), Pavicevic (1974), Aloupi (1993). More recent studies by Walton et al. (2009), Walton et al.(2014), Lühl et al.(2014) and Chaviara & Aloupi-Siotis (2016) by using advanced analytical techniques provide detailed information on

1818-402: Is moulded in the shape of head of an animal or a man. At Aegina , the most popular form of the plastic vase is the head of the griffin. The Melanesian amphoras, manufactured at Paros , exhibit little knowledge of Corinthian developments. They present a marked taste for the epic composition and a horror vacui, which is expressed in an abundance of swastikas and meanders. Finally one can identify

1919-562: Is named horror vacui (fear of the empty) and will not cease until the end of geometrical period. In the middle of the century there begin to appear human figures, the best known representations of which are those of the vases found in Dipylon , one of the cemeteries of Athens . The fragments of these large funerary vases show mainly processions of chariots or warriors or of the funerary scenes: πρόθεσις ( prothesis ; exposure and lamentation of dead) or ἐκφορά ( ekphora ; transport of

2020-461: Is no extant literary source that is known to have circulated in the sixth century BC in Athens regarding a narrative involving Ajax and Achilles playing a board game. Exekias may have drawn his inspiration for this innovative composition from local oral bardic traditions regarding the Trojan War, which may have developed during his lifetime in the cultural context of sixth century Athens. Despite

2121-443: Is one of our most important sources of ceramics from this period where a cache of grave goods has been found giving evidence of a distinctive Euboian protogeometric style which lasted into the early 8th century. Geometric art flourished in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. It was characterized by new motifs, breaking with the representation of the Minoan and Mycenaean periods: meanders, triangles and other geometrical decoration (hence

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2222-489: Is represented by two series of funerary plaques found in Athens (Berlin Antikensammlung 1811, 1814). The plaques, showing the funerary ritual for a deceased man, were probably attached to the walls of a funerary monument. In his vase paintings, Exekias does not only reinterpret the mythological traditions of his time, but at times even sets new fashions. One of his most famous works is the so-called " Dionysus Cup ",

2323-593: Is shown with his helmet still resting on his head which represents he has more power than Ajax. Also, Ajax is shown with his heel slightly lifted, suggesting that he is nervous in the presence of Achilles. Apart from the selection of this very intimate, seemingly relaxed scene as a symbol for the Trojan War , this vase-painting also showcases the talent of Exekias as an artist: the figures of both Achilles and Ajax are decorated with fine incised details, showing elaborate textile patterns and almost every hair in place. There

2424-535: Is usually most closely identified with this style. Vase production in Athens stopped around 330–320 BC possibly due to Alexander the Great 's control of the city, and had been in slow decline over the 4th century along with the political fortunes of Athens itself. However, vase production continued in the 4th and 3rd centuries in the Greek colonies of southern Italy where five regional styles may be distinguished. These are

2525-746: The Apulian , Lucanian , Sicilian , Campanian and Paestan . Red-figure work flourished there with the distinctive addition of polychromatic painting and in the case of the Black Sea colony of Panticapeum the gilded work of the Kerch Style . Several noteworthy artists' work comes down to us including the Darius Painter and the Underworld Painter , both active in the late 4th century, whose crowded polychromatic scenes often essay

2626-684: The Cyclades (in particular Naxos ) and the Ionian colonies in the east Aegean . Production of vases was largely the prerogative of Athens – it is well attested that in Corinth, Boeotia, Argos, Crete and Cyclades, the painters and potters were satisfied to follow the Attic style. By the end of the Archaic period the styles of black-figure pottery , red-figure pottery and the white ground technique had become fully established and would continue in use during

2727-495: The Hellenistic period . The few ways that clay pottery can be damaged is by being broken, being abraded or by coming in contact with fire. The process of making a pot and firing it is fairly simple. The first thing a potter needs is clay . Attica's high-iron clay gave its pots an orange color. When clay is first dug out of the ground it is full of rocks and shells and other useless items that need to be removed. To do this

2828-782: The Kleophon Painter can be included in the school of the Niobid Painter , as their work indicates something of the influence of the Parthenon sculptures both in theme (e.g., Polygnotos's centauromachy, Brussels, Musées Royaux A. & Hist., A 134) and in feeling for composition. Toward the end of the century, the "Rich" style of Attic sculpture as seen in the Nike Balustrade is reflected in contemporary vase painting with an ever-greater attention to incidental detail, such as hair and jewellery. The Meidias Painter

2929-530: The Neo-Hittite principalities of northern Syria and Phoenicia found their way to Greece, as did goods from Anatolian Urartu and Phrygia , yet there was little contact with the cultural centers of Egypt or Assyria . The new idiom developed initially in Corinth (as Proto-Corinthian) and later in Athens between 725 BC and 625 BC (as Proto-Attic). It was characterized by an expanded vocabulary of motifs: sphinx , griffin , lions , etc., as well as

3030-608: The Pan Painter hold to the archaic features of stiff drapery and awkward poses and combine that with exaggerated gestures. By contrast, the school of the Berlin Painter in the form of the Achilles Painter and his peers (who may have been the Berlin Painter's pupils) favoured a naturalistic pose usually of a single figure against a solid black background or of restrained white-ground lekythoi . Polygnotos and

3131-557: The Protogeometric style , which begins Ancient Greek pottery proper. The rise of vase painting saw increasing decoration. Geometric art in Greek pottery was contiguous with the late Dark Age and early Archaic Greece , which saw the rise of the Orientalizing period . The pottery produced in Archaic and Classical Greece included at first black-figure pottery , yet other styles emerged such as red-figure pottery and

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3232-444: The gymnasium . Not all of their uses are known, but where there is uncertainty scholars make good proximate guesses of what use a piece would have served. Some have a purely ritual function, for example Some vessels were designed as grave markers . Craters marked the places of males and amphorae marked those of females. This helped them to survive, and is why some will depict funeral processions. White ground lekythoi contained

3333-567: The iambic trimeter inscription, Exēkías égrapse kapoíēsé me ("Exekias made and painted me"), indicating that in these cases Exekias was responsible for both the potting of the vase and its painted decoration. Fragments of a third amphora (Taranto 179196) also show the use of both terms, when the inscriptions are restored. This leads to speculation regarding the meaning of the epoíēsen signatures and why, in some instances, Exekias signed only as potter on vases that he clearly painted as well. It has been suggested that he chose to sign as painter only

3434-601: The white ground technique . Styles such as West Slope Ware were characteristic of the subsequent Hellenistic period , which saw vase painting's decline. The interest in Greek art lagged behind the revival of classical scholarship during the Renaissance and was revived in the academic circle surrounding Nicolas Poussin in Rome in the 1630s. Though modest collections of vases recovered from ancient tombs in Italy were made in

3535-527: The 15th and 16th centuries these were regarded as Etruscan . It is possible that Lorenzo de Medici bought several Attic vases directly from Greece ; however the connection between them and the examples excavated in central Italy was not made until much later. Winckelmann 's Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums of 1764 first refuted the Etruscan origin of what we now know to be Greek pottery yet Sir William Hamilton 's two collections, one lost at sea

3636-764: The 19th century starting with the founding of the Instituto di Corrispondenza in Rome in 1828 (later the German Archaeological Institute), followed by Eduard Gerhard 's pioneering study Auserlesene Griechische Vasenbilder (1840 to 1858), the establishment of the journal Archaeologische Zeitung in 1843 and the Ecole d'Athens 1846. It was Gerhard who first outlined the chronology we now use, namely: Orientalizing (Geometric, Archaic), Black Figure, Red Figure, Polychromatic (Hellenistic). Finally it

3737-555: The 4th century BC. The innovation of the red-figure technique was an Athenian invention of the late 6th century. It was quite the opposite of black-figure which had a red background. The ability to render detail by direct painting rather than incision offered new expressive possibilities to artists such as three-quarter profiles, greater anatomical detail and the representation of perspective. The first generation of red-figure painters worked in both red- and black-figure as well as other methods including Six's technique and white-ground ;

3838-586: The 8th century BC on, they created their own styles, Argos specializing in the figurative scenes, Crete remaining attached to a more strict abstraction. The orientalizing style was the product of cultural ferment in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean of the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Fostered by trade links with the city-states of Asia Minor , the artifacts of the East influenced a highly stylized yet recognizable representational art. Ivories, pottery and metalwork from

3939-479: The Andokides Painter. He eventually came to the conclusion that two artists were involved in production of the vases, the Andokides Painter painted the red-figure pictures and another artist, who he named the Lysippides Painter , produced the black-figure pictures. Many scholars, however, have resisted this conclusion and question whether the Andokides Painter and the Lysippides Painter are in fact one and

4040-666: The Berlin F 1720 amphora, and the Athenian calyx-krater which has traditionally been attributed to Exekias. The Stēsías love name, Stēsías kalós , (Stesias [is] beautiful), is inscribed on the Louvre F 53 amphora, which Beazley attributed to the Group E phase of Exekias' artistic career. In addition to the main tableau, in which figures interact physically and often with psychological import, there are often subordinate areas of interest on

4141-555: The Etruscans developed a taste for Greek vases, over 30,000 of which have been found in the region. The presence of Exekias' work in Etruria indicates that foreigners also admired his vases, and that he catered to markets both at home and abroad. In the words of Beazley, Group E is "the soil from which the art of Exekias springs, the tradition which on his way from fine craftsman to true artist he absorbs and transcends.” Based on

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4242-478: The Middle Geometrical (approx. 850–770 BC), figurative decoration makes its appearance: they are initially identical bands of animals such as horses, stags, goats, geese, etc. which alternate with the geometrical bands. In parallel, the decoration becomes complicated and becomes increasingly ornate; the painter feels reluctant to leave empty spaces and fills them with meanders or swastikas . This phase

4343-546: The Treasury, like the struggle for the Delphic tripod, are not generally found in Attic painting until the Andokides Painter's red-figure scenes. The relationship between the Treasury and the Andokides Painter's work is so strong, that some scholars have posited the vase painter was somehow involved in the frieze's production, perhaps as a colorist. The Andokides Painter has always featured prominently in scholarly debates over

4444-597: The absence of signature, is the Dipylon Master , could be identified on several pieces, in particular monumental amphorae. At the end of the period there appear representations of mythology, probably at the moment when Homer codifies the traditions of Trojan cycle in the Iliad and the Odyssey . Here however the interpretation constitutes a risk for the modern observer: a confrontation between two warriors can be

4545-572: The ambiguity surrounding the origin of this mythological narrative, Exekias' new depiction of Ajax and Achilles playing a board game was popular and was copied over 150 times in the ensuing fifty years. The only "kalós" name used on vases attributed to or signed by Exekias as a painter is the Onētorídēs love name. The Onētorídēs love name appears on the Vatican 344 amphora, the London B 210 amphora,

4646-1023: The ancient Greeks. There were several vessels produced locally for everyday and kitchen use, yet finer pottery from regions such as Attica was imported by other civilizations throughout the Mediterranean , such as the Etruscans in Italy . There were a multitude of specific regional varieties, such as the South Italian ancient Greek pottery . Throughout these places, various types and shapes of vases were used. Not all were purely utilitarian; large Geometric amphorae were used as grave markers, kraters in Apulia served as tomb offerings and Panathenaic Amphorae seem to have been looked on partly as objets d'art , as were later terracotta figurines. Some were highly decorative and meant for elite consumption and domestic beautification as much as serving

4747-480: The attribution of bilingual vases. The dispute centers on the question of authorship of the black-figure paintings: whether each scene was produced by a different artist, or if the same hand painted both scenes in both techniques. The question was first raised by Adolf Furtwängler , who suggested that the paintings were realized by two separate hands. Beazley changed his mind over the matter several times during his career, specifically in relation to works he attributed to

4848-476: The birth of the Orientalizing period , led largely by ancient Corinth , where the previous stick-figures of the geometric pottery become fleshed out amid motifs that replaced the geometric patterns. The classical ceramic decor is dominated mostly by Attic vase painting. Attic production was the first to resume after the Greek Dark Age and influenced the rest of Greece, especially Boeotia , Corinth ,

4949-406: The black-figure method was a Corinthian invention of the 7th century and spread from there to other city states and regions including Sparta , Boeotia , Euboea , the east Greek islands and Athens. The Corinthian fabric, extensively studied by Humfry Payne and Darrell Amyx, can be traced though the parallel treatment of animal and human figures. The animal motifs have greater prominence on

5050-449: The coffin to the cemetery). The bodies are represented in a geometrical way except for the calves, which are rather protuberant. In the case of soldiers, a shield in form of a diabolo , called "dipylon shield" because of its characteristic drawing, covers the central part of the body. The legs and the necks of the horses, the wheels of the chariots are represented one beside the other without perspective. The hand of this painter, so called in

5151-461: The coil method of building the walls of the pot was employed. Most Greek vases were wheel-made, though as with the Rhyton mould-made pieces (so-called "plastic" pieces) are also found and decorative elements either hand-formed or by mould were added to thrown pots. More complex pieces were made in parts then assembled when it was leather hard by means of joining with a slip, where the potter returned to

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5252-697: The color of the flesh or clothing. Clay used in Athens was much more orange than that of Corinth, and so did not lend itself as easily to the representation of flesh. Attic Orientalising Painters include the Analatos Painter , the Mesogeia Painter and the Polyphemos Painter . Crete , and especially the islands of the Cyclades, are characterized by their attraction to the vases known as "plastic", i.e. those whose paunch or collar

5353-485: The connections between the Andokides Painter's work and a datable monument: the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi . The frieze of the Treasury shows certain stylistic and compositional innovations, such as the introduction of three-quarter views and foreshortening, which parallel developments in the new red-figure painting, most especially in images by the Andokides Painter. Additionally, certain subjects depicted on

5454-539: The creation of the Corpus vasorum antiquorum under Edmond Pottier and the Beazley archive of John Beazley . Beazley and others following him have also studied fragments of Greek pottery in institutional collections, and have attributed many painted pieces to individual artists. Scholars have called these fragments disjecta membra (Latin for "scattered parts") and in a number of instances have been able to identify fragments now in different collections that belong to

5555-564: The debate by demonstrating a key difference between the painters of the red-figure and black-figure images on vase Munich 2301. In each, the hero Herakles is shown reclining on a Greek couch or kline . How the couch is depicted reveals an essential difference between the renderings. In the red-figure painting, details of the couch indicate the Andokides Painter had a thorough working knowledge of carpentry practices: tenons and rails are accurately depicted, conforming to woodworking practices and known ancient forms. The black-figure scene, however, lacks

5656-456: The development of new, elegant vessel shapes such as the "Type A amphora ". Exekias, however, is the only member of the Group who signed his products which suggests that Exekias may have been responsible for the development of such vessel shapes as the Type A cup, the Type A belly amphora and the calyx krater . Apart from the specialization in certain vessel shapes, the Group E artists also shared

5757-473: The era of Classical Greece , from the early 5th to late 4th centuries BC. Corinth was eclipsed by Athenian trends since Athens was the progenitor of both the red-figure and white ground styles. Vases of the protogeometrical period ( c.  1050–900 BC) represent the return of craft production after the collapse of the Mycenaean Palace culture and the ensuing Greek dark ages . It is one of

5858-489: The expanse of the interior of a cup. While many of Exekias' pieces display an image from a mythological story they are generally not the most famous moments. The "Eye-cup" that depicts Dionysus does not show the God fighting his kidnappers but instead shows him relaxing in his boat with his kidnappers turned into dolphins around him. Exekias could have chosen any moment, but this is the one he painted. Another visual adaptation of

5959-535: The extent of this trade can be gleaned from plotting the find maps of these vases outside of Greece, though this could not account for gifts or immigration. Only the existence of a second hand market could account for the number of panathenaics found in Etruscan tombs. South Italian wares came to dominate the export trade in the Western Mediterranean as Athens declined in political importance during

6060-532: The few modes of artistic expression besides jewelry in this period since the sculpture, monumental architecture and mural painting of this era are unknown to us. By 1050 BC life in the Greek peninsula seems to have become sufficiently settled to allow a marked improvement in the production of earthenware. The style is confined to the rendering of circles, triangles, wavy lines and arcs, but placed with evident consideration and notable dexterity, probably aided by compasses and multiple brushes. The site of Lefkandi

6161-653: The finest work in the style to belong Exekias and the Amasis Painter , who are noted for their feeling for composition and narrative. Circa 520 BC the red-figure technique was developed and was gradually introduced in the form of the bilingual vase by the Andokides Painter , Oltos and Psiax . Red-figure quickly eclipsed black-figure, yet in the unique form of the Panathanaic Amphora, black-figure continued to be utilised well into

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6262-447: The firing chamber and turning both pot and slip a reddish-brown (oxidising conditions) due to the formation of hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ) in both the paint and the clay body. Then the vent was closed and green wood introduced, creating carbon monoxide which turns the red hematite to black magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ); at this stage the temperature decreases due to incomplete combustion. In a final reoxidizing phase (at about 800–850 °C)

6363-491: The gradual change of the profile eye. This phase also sees the specialization of painters into pot and cup painters, with the Berlin and Kleophrades Painters notable in the former category and Douris and Onesimos in the latter. By the early to high classical era of red-figure painting ( c.  480–425 BC), a number of distinct schools had evolved. The Mannerists associated with the workshop of Myson and exemplified by

6464-479: The greatest of all Attic vase painters. The Andokides painter and the Lysippides Painter are thought to have been students of Exekias. The works of Exekias are distinguished by their innovative compositions, precise draughtsmanship, and subtle psychological characterization, all of which transcend the inherent challenges of the black-figure technique. John Boardman , the eminent historian of Greek art, described Exekias' style as follows: "The hallmark of his style

6565-413: The kiln was opened and oxygen reintroduced causing the unslipped reserved clay to go back to orange-red while the slipped area on the vase that had been sintered/vitrified in the previous phase, could no longer be oxidized and remained black. While the description of a single firing with three stages may seem economical and efficient, some scholars claim that it is equally possible that each of these stages

6666-487: The last major style of the period, that of Wild Goat Style , allotted traditionally to Rhodes because of an important discovery within the necropolis of Kameiros . In fact, it is widespread over all of Asia Minor , with centers of production at Miletus and Chios . Two forms prevail oenochoes , which copied bronze models, and dishes, with or without feet. The decoration is organized in superimposed registers in which stylized animals, in particular of feral goats (from whence

6767-499: The latter was developed at the same time as red-figure. However, within twenty years, experimentation had given way to specialization as seen in the vases of the Pioneer Group , whose figural work was exclusively in red-figure, though they retained the use of black-figure for some early floral ornamentation. The shared values and goals of The Pioneers such as Euphronios and Euthymides signal that they were something approaching

6868-696: The market in which Exekias positioned himself. Fragments of column krater and a hydria attributed to Exekias were excavated on the Athenian Acropolis , suggesting that Exekias maintained a clientele in his home city. The fact that two of his vases were found on the Acropolis, an important religious sanctuary, underscores his prestige as a vase painter. Exekias not only enjoyed a thriving market in Athens; many of his extant vases were also exported to Etruria , Italy , found at sites such as Vulci and Orvieto , where they were buried in Etruscan tombs. Being admirers of Greeks and their arts and letters,

6969-414: The mythological past can be seen on the Vatican amphora 344, which is regarded by some art historians as Exekias' masterpiece. The Vatican amphora depicts Achilles and Ajax playing a board game, with both men identified by their names added in the genitive. Ajax and Achilles sit across from each other, looking down at a block situated between them. The board game they are playing, which might be compared to

7070-407: The name of the style) as distinct from the predominantly circular figures of the previous style. However, our chronology for this new art form comes from exported wares found in datable contexts overseas. With the early geometrical style (approximately 900–850 BC) one finds only abstract motifs, in what is called the "Black Dipylon" style, which is characterized by extensive use of black varnish, with

7171-504: The name) pursue each other in friezes. Many decorative motifs (floral triangles, swastikas, etc.) fill the empty spaces. Black-figure is the most commonly imagined when one thinks about Greek pottery. It was a popular style in ancient Greece for many years. The black-figure period coincides approximately with the era designated by Winckelmann as the middle to late Archaic , from c.  620 to 480 BC. The technique of incising silhouetted figures with enlivening detail which we now call

7272-418: The oil used as funerary offerings and appear to have been made solely with that object in mind. Many examples have a concealed second cup inside them to give the impression of being full of oil, as such they would have served no other useful gain. There was an international market for Greek pottery since the 8th century BC, which Athens and Corinth dominated down to the end of the 4th century BC. An idea of

7373-477: The orientalizing motifs appear but the features remain not very realistic. The painters show a preference for the typical scenes of the Geometrical Period, like processions of chariots. However, they adopt the principle of line drawing to replace the silhouette. In the middle of the 7th century BC, there appears the black and white style: black figures on a white zone, accompanied by polychromy to render

7474-584: The other now in the British Museum , were still published as "Etruscan vases"; it would take until 1837 with Stackelberg 's Gräber der Hellenen to conclusively end the controversy. Much of the early study of Greek vases took the form of production of albums of the images they depict, however neither D'Hancarville's nor Tischbein 's folios record the shapes or attempt to supply a date and are therefore unreliable as an archaeological record. Serious attempts at scholarly study made steady progress over

7575-419: The overarching stylistic similarities between the work of Group E and Exekias, Beazley hypothesized that Exekias first began his career in the workshop of the so-called Group E artists. "Group E" produced work that is not only considered closely related to the work of Exekias, but also represents a conscious break from the pottery traditions of the first half of the sixth century BC. Group E has been credited with

7676-444: The painter's work, suggesting that he may have been an immigrant from East Greece. Dietrich von Bothmer also notes that the earliest instances of the use of a white ground in vase painting occur in the Andokides Painter's scenes, perhaps indicating that he should be credited additionally with inventing the white ground technique. The invention of the red-figure technique occurred sometime around 525 BC. The evidence for this date lies in

7777-412: The painting of Exekias, riveting the attention of the viewer, who then lingers to appreciate the finely executed forms and exquisite details. Also characteristic of Exekias is his expert use of line, both in terms of his finely drawn figures and also his carefully incised detail—to delineate hair, beards, unique facial features, aspects of armor and furniture, traits of plants and animals, and particularly

7878-502: The particle size. The fine clay suspension used for the paint was either produced by using several deflocculating additives to clay (potash, urea, dregs of wine, bone ashes, seaweed ashes, etc.) or by collecting it in situ from illitic clay beds following rain periods. Recent studies have shown that some trace elements in the black glaze (i.e. Zn in particular) can be characteristic of the clay beds used in antiquity. In general, different teams of scholars suggest different approaches concerning

7979-521: The patterns on woven or embroidered garments, which are impressively varied and spectacularly precise. This can be appreciated in the famous Vatican amphora (344), on which Achilles and Ajax are both shown wearing richly ornamented cloaks, with almost every element clearly visible and identifiable despite the small scale. Incised designs include rosettes of various types, swastikas with squared or rounded arms, stars, and loops, arranged in panels divided by bands of many types of geometric decoration. Musculature

8080-478: The potter mixes the clay with water and lets all the impurities sink to the bottom. This is called levigation or elutriation . This process can be done many times. The more times this is done, the smoother clay becomes. The clay is then kneaded by the potter and placed on a wheel . Once the clay is on the wheel the potter can shape it into any of the many shapes shown below, or anything else he desires. Wheel-made pottery dates back to roughly 2500 BC. Before this,

8181-411: The prevalent early style was that of the protogeometric art , predominantly using circular and wavy decorative patterns. This was succeeded in mainland Greece , the Aegean , Anatolia , and Italy by the style of pottery known as geometric art , which employed neat rows of geometric shapes. The period of Archaic Greece , beginning in the 8th century BC and lasting until the late 5th century BC, saw

8282-476: The process and the raw materials used. The most familiar aspect of ancient Greek pottery is painted vessels of fine quality. These were not the everyday pottery used by most people but were sufficiently cheap to be accessible to a wide range of the population. Few examples of ancient Greek painting have survived so modern scholars have to trace the development of ancient Greek art partly through ancient Greek vase-painting, which survives in large quantities and

8383-459: The production of the clay slip used in antiquity. Greek pottery, unlike today's pottery, was only fired once, using a very sophisticated process. The black color effect was achieved by means of changing the amount of oxygen present during firing. This was done in a process known as three-phase firing involving alternating oxidizing –reducing conditions. First, the kiln was heated to around 920–950 °C, with all vents open bringing oxygen into

8484-421: The relief lines. A series of analytical studies have shown that the striking black gloss with a metallic sheen, so characteristic of Greek pottery, emerged from the colloidal fraction of an illitic clay with very low calcium oxide content. This clay slip was rich in iron oxides and hydroxides, differentiating from that used for the body of the vase in terms of the calcium content, the exact mineral composition and

8585-424: The remaining vases signed with epoíēsen can be attributed to the same hand as those signed " ... égrapse kapoíēsé me "—that is, to the painter Exekias. Beazley attributed one of the vases with the potter-only signature to the so-called Group E, to which Exekias is closely related. While Exekias' work itself offers a glimpse of the culture of ancient pottery, the find spots of his vases also reveal information about

8686-464: The same precision and accuracy. Rails and tenons are depicted in inappropriate locations, resulting in a construction that would not have been structurally sound. A small table also included in the scene shows the same disparities. This discrepancy clearly indicates two artistic personalities at work: one who had an understanding of carpentry and furniture construction, and one who did not. Exekias Exekias ( Ancient Greek : Ἐξηκίας , Exēkías )

8787-634: The same vase. The names we use for Greek vase shapes are often a matter of convention rather than historical fact. A few do illustrate their own use or are labeled with their original names, while others are the result of early archaeologists' attempt to reconcile the physical object with a known name from Greek literature—not always successfully. To understand the relationship between form and function, Greek pottery may be divided into four broad categories, given here with common types: As well as these utilitarian functions, certain vase shapes were especially associated with rituals , others with athletics and

8888-422: The same. The uncertainty surrounding the issue was convincingly dispelled, however, through studies undertaken by Beth Cohen and Elizabeth Simpson . Beth Cohen in her publication Attic Bilingual Vases and Their Painters , produced a definitive study of the bilingual vase form. She closely observed certain details, drawing styles, themes, compositions, and preferences in order to establish artistic personalities,

8989-433: The strata of his archaeological digs by the nature of the pottery found within them, a method of seriation Flinders Petrie was later to apply to unpainted Egyptian pottery. Where the 19th century was a period of Greek discovery and the laying out of first principles, the 20th century has been one of consolidation and intellectual industry. Efforts to record and publish the totality of public collections of vases began with

9090-474: The thematic center or lead to it as the spokes of a wheel: the spears of the warriors, the curved backs of their hunching forms, the wind-filled sails of the ship and its curved bottom, the circle of dolphins. Other scenes are crowded with figures, such that attention is drawn toward the complex composition itself, or to individual men and women in a chariot or the magnificent horses arranged in groups. A variety of compositional devices are used to brilliant effect in

9191-430: The vase and show the greatest experimentation in the early phase of Corinthian black-figure. As Corinthian artists gained confidence in their rendering of the human figure the animal frieze declined in size relative to the human scene during the middle to late phase. By the mid-6th century BC, the quality of Corinthian ware had fallen away significantly to the extent that some Corinthian potters would disguise their pots with

9292-423: The vases of Exekias. Border decoration, and particularly large, beautifully constructed spirals with palmettes, frame and enliven the compositions. The central tableau is sometimes framed by areas of black, so that it appears suddenly out of the darkness, so to speak. Characteristically, Exekias uses the shape of the vessel, with its curving surface, as a terrain to which the lines and forms of the painting conform. As

9393-527: The viewer contemplates the vase, attention is drawn to the central scene: the game board (in the depiction of Achilles and Ajax Playing a Game), the face of Penthesilea (in the Death of Penthesilea), the starry robe of Dionysus, the sword implanted in the earth (in the Suicide of Ajax). On the rounded surface of the vase, this point is seen head on. All the other main lines of the composition either radiate around

9494-471: The wheel for the final shaping or turning. Sometimes, a young man helped turn the wheel. After the pot was made, the potter painted it with an ultra fine grained clay slip; the paint was applied on the areas intended to become black after firing, according to the two different styles, i.e. the black figure and the red figure. For the decoration the vase painters used brushes of different thickness, pinpoint tools for incisions and probably single-hair tools for

9595-460: The work of Exekias himself but also into the way ancient pottery workshops operated. Twelve of the fourteen vessels bearing his name refer to him not as their painter but as their potter, by adding the word epoíēsen (ἐποίησεν) to his name. This may be translated as "Exekias made [me]", in contrast to égrapsen (ἓγραψεν), which translates as "painted [me]" (literally: "drew [me]"). On two amphorae, Berlin 1720 and Vatican 344, both terms are used in

9696-405: The works he was particularly proud of. According to a different approach, Exekias' epoíēsen signatures could be understood as functioning as a general workshop stamp, which would mean that Exekias may have simply been the master-potter who supervised the production of the vessel. Seven of the vessels signed " Exēkias epoíēsen, " however, carry too little decoration to afford comparison. Only two of

9797-470: Was Otto Jahn 's 1854 catalogue Vasensammlung of the Pinakothek, Munich, that set the standard for the scientific description of Greek pottery, recording the shapes and inscriptions with a previously unseen fastidiousness. Jahn's study was the standard textbook on the history and chronology of Greek pottery for many years, yet in common with Gerhard he dated the introduction of the red figure technique to

9898-496: Was an ancient Greek vase painter and potter who was active in Athens between roughly 545 BC and 530 BC. Exekias worked mainly in the black-figure technique, which involved the painting of scenes using a clay slip that fired to black, with details created through incision. Exekias is regarded by art historians as an artistic visionary whose masterful use of incision and psychologically sensitive compositions mark him as one of

9999-456: Was confined to separate firings in which the pottery is subjected to multiple firings, of different atmosphere. In any case, the faithful reproduction of the process involving extensive experimental work that led to the creation of a modern production unit in Athens since 2000, has shown that the ancient vases may have been subjected to multiple three-stage firings following repainting or as an attempt to correct color failures The technique which

10100-431: Was the god of inspiration, and the painting depicts his initial journey to Athens by ship. Pirates had seized the ship and were planning, perhaps, to sell Dionysus into slavery. Instead, the god caused vines to grow from the mast, frightening the pirates so much that they jumped overboard and were changed into dolphins, here seen swimming around the ship. Exekias is the first Athenian vase painter to depict Dionysus sailing in

10201-428: Was to become highly developed and typical. After many centuries dominated by styles of geometric decoration, becoming increasingly complex, figurative elements returned in force in the 8th century. From the late 7th century to about 300 BC evolving styles of figure-led painting were at their peak of production and quality and were widely exported. During the Greek Dark Age , spanning the 11th to 8th centuries BC,

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